Eric Dixon & Wooga Poplar leads Wildcats to win over FDU

Radnor PA: As Non-conference play winds down, it will give your fanbase an idea of where you at heading into conference play & Villanova, will look to end this part of the schedule with a win as they went to battle with Fairleigh Dickinson Knights on Wednesday night at Finneran Pavillion.  The Wildcats came into the game off a dominating performance against Temple while FDU made their way to the Main Line off a win over Lehman.

There would be a special guest in the building for the game in Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro who was sitting with Jay Wright

#Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in attendance at tonight's #Villanova game sitting with Jay Wright #NovaNation #NOVAvsFDU pic.twitter.com/uCtIkK7HlT

— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) December 12, 2024

Lineup:

pic.twitter.com/7VfXSFD9uV

— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) December 11, 2024

How the game went:

Villanova scored right as they won the tip & went to Wooga Poplar & then FDU got on the board with 3 pointer, both teams traded baskets as the Wildcats got off to an 11-8 lead, and Jordan Longino would pick up his 2^nd foul 4 minutes into the game, FDU would hang with the Wildcats going into the 1^st timeout tied at 13, FDU would take the lead for the 1^st time at 18-15 on a very bad Wildcats turnover, FDU would keep the pressure on the Wildcats until they figured things out & got the lead up to 10 at 41-31 & the lead at the half would be 45-36, so there was a good amount people inside Finneran Pavilion were starting to ask could FDU come into the Finn & take down the Wildcats like how Columbia did earlier in the season.

Going into the second, half, did Kyle Neptune come up with any changes to throw off whatever FDU was doing to make this a tight game, Eric Dixon &
Wooga Poplar would carry the Wildcats on their backs in the second with some very aggressive plays & drives to the basket. There were 3 separate times that the Wildcats got the lead up to 19 points & FDU on a couple of times, had the lead down to 11 with the last one being 67-56 with 10:39 left.

Josiah Moseley would have a very sick Dunk that woke up Finneran Pavilion which made it 77-59 with 5:08 left.

The Wildcats would get a scare early in the game & were able to make the adjustments needed as the Wildcats would take down Fairleigh Dickinson 86-72 to close their Nonconference schedule.

Overall the Wildcats have been playing better basketball of late & wins over Ranked Cincinnati & city rival Temple do help their confidence going into Big East play, some were saying when they fell to Maryland & Virginia that the Wildcats would not be able to rebound and have another bad season but they were able to avoid that particular situation from happening.

Postgame:

Villanova Coach Kyle Neptune

FDU Coach Jack Castleberry:

What I asked to #FDU Coach Jack Castleberry after loss to #Villanova#NOVAvsFDU pic.twitter.com/yQ0wLGaTs8

— David Malandra Jr (@DaveMReports) December 12, 2024

Final Numbers:

What is next:

With the win, Villanova is now 7-4 on the season & will head into Big East play when they battle Seton Hall on December 17 at Finneran Pavilion on Peacock while FDU falls to 4-8 & look to get back to the winning ways as they take on another Philadelphia Big 5 school in LaSalle on December 18 at LaSalle.